Thinking of swarms conjures up images of hundreds to thousands of insects moving as if they have a common mind. But it may only take 10 individuals to spur that type of collective behavior, scientists report August 12 in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

The results, based on experiments with Chironomus riparius midges, offer clues to the group dynamics of flocks of birds and schools of fish and may also help to build better materials and machines inspired by nature, the scientists say.